RedRooster

Jeez, that’s a pretty extreme response to a fairly banal opinion. I think you’re a tremendous poster - and person, for that matter; but I think you tend to defend AEW in a way that has a tendency to feel a bit angry at times; I totally accept that might not be your intention, so I’m not going to dwell on that. I’ll respond to your point though, and what I’d say to that is that I think the difference is pretty clear. WWE has parted ways with its problematic billionaire; while AEW’s identity has very much become wrapped up in theirs. That doesn’t mean there aren’t problematic people backstage in WWE; and it also doesn’t mean I won’t feel down on those people for allowing truly awful things to happen. But for whatever reason - and it may just be better PR - WWE feels like it’s cleaned up, whereas AEW hasn’t been able to capture that feeling. Khan generally goes on the defensive, and often fails to acknowledge problems in a way that feels satisfactory to me. It goes without saying though, that although I think Tony Khan is an issue for AEW, unlike Vince McMahon - who is truly despicable - the issues Khan has are rooted in poor decision making skills and personality flaws. I also think AEW’s problems make their way on to television far too often, and it’s not fun to watch. WWE doesn’t do that. If you simply want to enjoy the mad wrestling world and forget about the politics of it all; AEW can make that difficult. Again, Scorchers, I think you’re a top guy. And I wish I felt as passionate about anything as you do AEW. But how can telling someone to switch off because they have a problem with something ever be beneficial to a company you clearly love? Unfortunately, AEW is often struggling to attract an audience - and while that might not bother you, it’ll eventually result in downsizing of some form. That’s not good for the wrestlers who work there, or the wider industry. If I want to watch AEW in spite of Tony Khan, I will. If or when I feel done with it, I’ll switch off. I can enjoy a good episode of Dynamite because of its performers; and simultaneously roll my eyes at its utter berk of an owner.

This is pretty much how I feel. I’ve come to realise that all I want from my wrestling shows is to feel like I’ve had fun watching them. That’s why I really enjoyed Wrestlemania last night in spite of its flaws. I felt similarly around the early years of AEW, there was a feel-good factor surrounding the promotion which made each show a delight to watch. The undercurrent of negativity and backstage drama is something I find more than a little exhausting. And it can pretty much all be traced back to Tony Khan. Any good intentions he may have are lost in the leadership skills he appears to lack, along with his ridiculous behaviour on Twitter.

I dunno, for me the split has only demonstrated that Jey is the better wrestler. Jimmy hasn’t impressed in any context - no stand-out singles matches and his character work hasn’t been particularly good either. Jey has been good to the point there were people who wanted to see him beat Roman before Summerslam happened.

I hate The Godskin Duo in Elden Ring. I don’t think I’ve ever been so annoyed or frustrated by a boss fight. I don’t have anything constructive or interesting to say, I just need to rant before my head explodes. Fuck these guys. What’s annoyed me even more after taking an absolute age and many, many deaths to beat them is discovering that they are vulnerable to sleep and this could have been over much more quickly. Fuck this fucking fight one thousand times over!

Unless contracts were signed to prevent it, I don’t think there’s anything that would stop them doing this from a legal perspective. I guess there’s a risk of defamation proceedings if Punk were to claim it was presented out of context or edited; but I guess if Punk’s recollection was noticeably inaccurate, that wouldn’t hold much water anyway. A decision to air footage of a real life assault seems like the kind of thing that might end up appearing in a ‘Rise and Fall of AEW’ book; there’s no benefit in doing this at all. When Khan lets the mask slip and reveals how thin-skinned he is, he inevitably ends up looking pathetic; and makes it harder to enjoy the company he’s promoting.

Well, I loved the show. Rhea/Becky was a great opener, the ladder match was good fun and that entrance for Sami was one of the best I’ve seen in wrestling; the build up to his theme song hitting gave me goosebumps. It was interesting to see how little they gave Jade to do in her match, I wonder if they still have doubts about her ring work? The surprise of the night for me was the main event. That absolutely merited its placement, it was absolutely brilliant. Packed with drama, Rock did well and it felt like a huge deal when he and Cody went face-to-face. They’ve also set themselves up well for a Cody-Rock title match in the future, and perhaps even a Reigns face turn, if Rock tosses him out of The Bloodline. It’s a shame Moxley isn’t around, because I’d be all for The Shield vs Rock’s Bloodline; but I’m absolutely pumped for what’s to come. Karrion Kross aside, bring on night 2!

I mean; come on, he’s used the ridiculous amount paid for music as a justification for cutting people - people who likely earned much less than what he was paying for the songs in question; given that one released wrestler a post saying he’d had to hold down another job to make ends meet. I’d rather see lower card wrestlers get paid more, and have no licensed music than a situation where people aren’t earning enough to live off. Khan has also claimed The Boys no-showed multiple shows; something they’ve denied in a detailed statement. Obviously I don’t know whose account is more accurate, but saying something about a lower paid act that might hinder their chances of getting bookings elsewhere is a bit shitty.

What I find most bizarre about the whole anti-trans movement is the people who define their very existence by it. Many of them accuse trans people or pro-trans people of denying biology; of ignoring facts and of being part of a pro-trans ‘cult’. That kind of language is thrown around so often. Yet it’s the anti-trans people who obsess over it - and we reached a point recently where JK Rowling inexplicably attempted to argue against the stance the Nazis took on trans people. If your argument or stance on an issue comes from a place of rationality, you should be capable of saying ‘that’s true, that’s awful - but it doesn’t invalidate what I say because…’ But Rowling doesn’t do that, Linehan doesn’t do that and the right wing grifters who probably don’t care one way or the other (but pretend they do) don’t do that. It’s about as venomous a ‘movement’ as I’ve seen against a minority group in my lifetime; and the hatred fuelling it only seems to grow. I think we’re only a Trump administration away from seeing genuinely horrific policy decisions made to ‘deal with’ this issue that are replicated elsewhere; laws restricting not only where trans people can go but what they can do (want to be a teacher? Tough shit, it’ll confuse kids) and perhaps even restrictions in some states on access to surgery and hormone tablets - or perhaps even an outright ban, with an emphasis on a therapeutic approach. Trump in the White House could drive on and encourage Republican-voting states to implement discriminatory policies and glorify in doing so; with a Trump administration aiding them by attempting to water down any defence the constitution might offer.

That’s kind of my point though, as @LaGoosh points out, Shibata isn’t a draw. These are matches Khan might want to see, and that a small niche might be interested in; but the result is obvious. Personally, I know very little about Shibata, so for me, it means nothing. The outcome is obvious, and the stakes are non-existent. The more interesting thing to do would have been one man beat an opponent, and the other lose to that same person - there’s a story to tell there. But the man to do that with probably wasn’t Shibata. Out of interest, like who? I see what you mean by your initial comment now - I don’t disagree that this is Khan’s approach; the message being that you’re going to see good wrestling. But none of that matters, when the outcome is obvious; it makes the matches themselves rather boring. I know you’re not arguing otherwise; but my point is that it just isn’t working (which is why I invoked the dreaded ‘ratings’ alongside live attendance numbers). The part I find most frustrating is that when AEW was actually hot, it wasn’t just about matches. The story was massively important - none of us would have been as arsed about Omega/Page is it weren’t for the story and character work; and the same goes for matches like Cody/MJF, Britt Baker vs Shida and even Moxley/Kingston. WWE seems to have learned more lessons about what worked in the early days of AEW than Tony Khan has. AEW was doing long term storytelling right across the board before things went south - the Kingston/Moxley dynamic, for example, was about more than just one match; building up to their eventual friendship and reunification. Jericho/MJF culminated in The Pinnacle; and Cody never really forgot about MJF right up to his departure. There’s still a little bit of this kind of thing in AEW, but Khan leans hard on the idea that good - but meaningless - matches are what people want. Because, presumably, it’s what he himself enjoys most.

When it comes to the PPVs that statement generally true, but who is tuning into see (for example) Danielson vs Archer? I know people hate ratings chat, but it’s relevant here, because the answer is fewer and fewer people; and the same is generally true for live attendance outside of PPVs. While yeah, analysing these factors is tedious, bringing them up is unavoidable when you want to point out that talk of a new TV deal has gone worryingly silent. Perhaps that deal will come, but the situation is worth paying attention to. TNA is a cautionary tale; prominence can go away in an instant, even if the company does not. I’d hate to see that happen to AEW; but to me, that seems a plausible - but avoidable - direction of travel, and that is a huge shame.

Do you think? I'm not sure he cares. I get the impression he's reactive in the moment, and - to put it mildly - he overreacts to perceived slights; but I'm struggling to think of examples of him saying things with the intent of provoking a reaction. If anything, I imagine provoking a reaction is more likely to piss him off; and that he expects people to just sit there and take it.

I've never had an issue with Cena's ring style. If I were to sit down and draw up a list of my favourite WWE matches from the past twenty years, I'd imagine he'd feature heavily. While his character could be grating, he absolutely did have the ability to enhance programmes through his involvement; and to make his opponent feel like a big deal simply for feuding with him. That doesn't mean the effect was long-lasting, but he had an ability to make many of his matches feel big time; or at the very least, interesting. I'd love to have seen what a heel John Cena would have looked like, but I can't imagine he'll be back long enough for that to be a possibility. Based on some of his comments, I wouldn't be surprised if his next sustained run culminated in his retirement from in-ring competition.

The Copeland promo wasn't necessary. Khan has demonstrated time and time again that he is incredibly thin-skinned, but I wish he'd just ignore these things; what Punk said wasn't bad to the point it required acknowledging; and besides, Cody Rhodes was very complimentary about AEW and Khan in a separate interview; meaning the defence has already been made. The Gunn/White match was baffling, but not surprising. It's not the first time that Gunn has been made to look incredibly strong against a younger opponent in AEW and I'm sure it won't be the last. The closing segment was strong, Willow once again showed why she deserves a consistent prominent role on AEW TV and Toni Storm was great value as ever. Having said that, I'm finding AEW a really tough watch right now. It's frequently boring. They've assembled the best roster in the world, but I their typical formula of long matches with predictable outcomes doesn't work for me. It's makes for dull viewing, at least as far as my tastes are concerned.

This thread might fall flat on its arse, but hopefully not… Here’s how it works. You can nominate up to 10 videogames, with 10 points going to your top game, 1 to the game that is bottom on your list. Please indicate clearly what game on your list gets 10-points. It goes without saying, but you can’t nominate the same game twice to ensure it gets extra points. When the vote closes 7am Monday 22nd April, I’ll tally the votes and build a list of the UKFF’s top games of all time. Depending on the number of nominations, this will range from 20 to 100 (a broad range, I know!) - but I’ll try to make it as expansive as I can. Each game will have a short write-up, and to keep it interesting (and if people are up for it), I’ll invite the odd guest writer to draft a short entry for their favourite game (with credit, of course!), although I will write the vast majority of this myself. Of course, if no one nominates anything, I’ll let the thread die and shirk quietly in a corner pretending this didn’t happen! I’ll add my own nominations later.

We hear lots of talk about the best ever wrestling theme songs, but what about the tunes that don't get the attention they deserve? Maybe it's because they were attached to a crap wrestler, maybe it's because they didn't last very long or perhaps they've simply been forgotten about. For me, it's this banger: The version of this song that Christian used during his most recent WWE run wasn't very good. But the Waterproof Blonde version of the song? That was a megastar entrance, and it gives me goosebumps every time I hear it. For me, it's one of my favourite entrance themes ever. And talking of Waterproof Blonde...I don't know much about them, but damn can they produce an entrance theme. I wish Sean O'Haire had been given more of a push simply so that I could have heard more of this. It's brilliant! Any other suggestions for underrated themes?